Ben_Shaoul

Ben Shaoul

Ben Shaoul

American real estate owner and developer

Ben Shaoul is a New York City-based real estate owner and developer.[1][2][3] He is the president of Magnum Real Estate Group, a residential real estate development and management company headquartered in New York City.[2][4] Shaoul is best known as a prominent developer in the Manhattan borough of New York City.[1][2]

Quick Facts Born, Nationality ...

Early life

Shaoul was born in Forest Hills, Queens, New York City to an Iranian Jewish family,[1] the son of Abraham and Minoo Shaoul.[5] His father ran an antiques business.[1] He grew up in Great Neck, New York.[1][2] He briefly attended community college but dropped out at the age of 19.[1]

Career

After he left school, he interned for a summer with a New York-based developer run by the Ohebshalom family, (also of Persian Jewish heritage).[1][2] He oversaw the renovation of his father's property and later took out a mortgage on the building.[1][2] In 1998, he and his parents co-founded Magnum Real Estate Group.[6] In 1999, Shaoul used the proceeds from that mortgage to buy his first property, which was located on Mott Street in Nolita.[1][7] Shaoul purchases buildings that have not been renovated for a long time and renovates them, and then increases the rent.[1] He primarily focuses on the East Village has added luxury apartments on top existing buildings.[1]

In 2013, Shaoul and Magnum Real Estate Group opened Bloom62, a luxury apartment building located in the East Village.[4][8] Shaoul and Westbrook Partners sold a jointly-held investment portfolio of 17 properties for $130 million to Jared Kushner in February of that year.[9] He later partnered with SL Green Realty to acquire properties in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.[10] Shaoul also began developing a dormitory for the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan[8][9][11] and ventured into Tribeca where he purchased the top 22 floors of the 32 story art-deco Verizon Building for conversion to condominiums.[12][13] In July 2014, he purchased the 199-unit Post Toscana on the Upper East Side and the 138-unit Post Luminaria in Kips Bay for $270 million to convert into condominiums. Both buildings have soon-to-expire tax abatements thereafter exempting them from rent stabilization rules.[14]

Shaoul has acquired and sold over 100 properties to include everything from the renovation of thousands of apartments to a $500M condominium conversion.[15][16]

Personal life

Shaoul is married to Megan Walsh Shaoul.[2] They have three children: Henry, Piper, and Mayer.[2] He has been criticized for contributing to the decline of rent-regulated apartments in the East Village.[1] He was labeled "Sledgehammer Shaoul" after confronting tenants in a building he purchased and being photographed with construction workers holding sledgehammers and crowbars.[1] In 2014, he was sued by his parents for using the proceeds from the refinancing of co-owned assets to fund his development projects.[5][6] The dispute was later resolved.[17]

References

  1. [1]
    Rebecca Flint Marx (July 6, 2012). "He Takes the Village". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  2. [2]
    "Meet the Landlord". The Real Deal. 2013-07-31. Archived from the original on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  3. [3]
    Josh Barbanel (March 12, 2012). "New Apartments, Plus Bridge". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  4. [4]
    Konrad Putzier (November 7, 2013). "Hip young crowd planting roots at Bloom62". Real Estate Weekly. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  5. [5]
    Amato, Rowley (2014-02-16). "Developer Ben Shaoul Sued by Own Parents for $50 Million". Curbed NY. Retrieved 2021-07-22.
  6. [6]
    Clarke, Katherine (2014-02-14). "Ben Shaoul's parents sue developer for fraud, theft". The Real Deal. Archived from the original on 2016-01-27. Retrieved 2021-07-22.
  7. [7]
    Max Abelson (5 February 2008). "Boy Developer Ben Shaoul Wants to Live Forever". New York Observer. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  8. [8]
    Ivanova, Irina (2013-06-05). "Lower East Side nursing home reborn as lux apts". Crain's New York Business. Archived from the original on 2022-01-28. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  9. [9]
    Guelda Voien (February 1, 2013). "Kushner buys $130M portfolio of EV rental buildings". The Real Deal. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  10. [10]
    Adam Pincus (6 May 2013). "SL Green, Magnum pay $52M for newly constructed Williamsburg residential portfolio". The Real Deal. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  11. [11]
    C.J. Hughes (31 December 2013). "Where 600 College Students Live Above the Store". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  12. [12]
    Budin, Jeremiah (2014-04-11). "Details Revealed for Ben Shaoul's Verizon Tower Conversion". Curbed NY. Retrieved 2021-07-22.
  13. [13]
    Barbanel, Josh (2013-12-05). "Old Phone Buildings Are Being Converted into Condos". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 2015-07-12. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  14. [14]
    Meir, Noam (2014-07-06). "Ben Shaoul Scoops Up Two NY Residential Towers for $270 Million". Jewish Business News. Retrieved 2021-07-22.
  15. [15]
    C.J. Hughes (4 July 2014). "Buildings With a Past". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  16. [16]
    Mark Maurer (31 December 2013). "Ben Shaoul developing School of Visual Arts dorm". The Real Deal. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  17. [17]
    Strickland, Julie (2014-05-23). "Ben Shaoul: My parents' $50M lawsuit against me resolved". The Real Deal. Archived from the original on 2016-03-07. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
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